Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
"The brow of the upland overtops the square tower of the Colebrook Church. This slope is green and looped by a white road. Ascending along this road, you open a valley broad and shallow, a wide green trough of pastures and hedges merging inland into a vista of purple tints and flowing lines closing the view."
Joseph Conrad who lived at Pent Farm, near Postling, from his story Amy Foster (1906).
The Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) stretches from the white cliffs at Dover and Folkestone all the way to the Surrey border. The Kent Downs AONB occupies about one quarter of the county of Kent.
Dover and Shepway contain about 20% of the Kent Downs AONB, including the white cliffs where the downs meet the sea and some of the most important wildlife sites such as Folkestone Downs, Folkestone Warren and South Foreland Valley.
There is also a second area of AONB in Kent; the High Weald AONB lies partly in Kent but stretches into Sussex.
The Kent Downs AONB and High Weald AONB are two of 35 AONBs in England & Wales, which are of similar importance to the national parks.
There are two stretches of Heritage Coast within the Kent Downs AONB, the South Foreland Heritage Coast and Dover-Folkestone Heritage Coast. Heritage Coasts have been designated for their unspoilt natural beauty, and form an important part of the AONB. These are the only stretches of Heritage Coast within Kent, and are two of only five Heritage Coasts in South East England. There are 45 Heritage Coasts in England & Wales.
